OG Tuesday Issue #164

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Advance past the broken rung, motivate yourself with good humor, practice gratitude without getting eye rolls this Thanksgiving, and guess how many words were in the longest email, ever.

The “glass ceiling” refers to the invisible barriers that hinder a woman’s upward mobility after she reaches a certain career level. Consultant Marilyn Loden came up with the phrase during a talk she gave back in 1978.

Yes, 1978.

“True, women did seem unable to climb the career ladder beyond the lowest rung of middle management,” Marilyn told reporters later, “but I argued that the “invisible glass ceiling” — the barriers to advancement that were cultural not personal — was doing the bulk of the damage to women’s career aspirations and opportunities.”

Fast forward to today. Maybe women haven’t completely shattered that glass ceiling, but according to a Women in the Workplace report from consulting firm Mckinsey, it’s no longer the biggest barrier to their advancement.

They bestow that “honor” on the broken rung. Collected data suggests that womens’ primary career struggle is getting from entry level to manager. It’s as though, for them, that rung is broken, making it impossible for them to climb further.

Mckinsey highlighted the following stats:

So…what can be done? Can we fix the rung? Jump over it? Use a rope instead?

Mckinsey says: Push for your employer to, if they’re not already:

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Whether you’re looking for holiday gifts, a few daily laughs, or just want to see if reverse psychology works on you, these fun and funny motivational posters get the job done.

Here’s a stylish one that boasts a can-do message with a good helping of sass.  

Here’s an artsy-looking one that reminds you to go ahead and express your anger.

Here’s a cheeky retro one that will look great in the kitchen.

Here’s a colorfully illustrated reminder that you can do hard things.

Here’s a healthy reminder that things could totally be worse.

Here’s one that’s kind of motivational but mostly just beautifully true.

We all know you’re supposed to give thanks at Thanksgiving, but sometimes doing it can feel a little cheesy, especially if you’re also trying to get others to do it with you.

Here are some actually fulfilling gratitude exercises and prompts you can keep to yourself or share with a group. (Many of them skip using the words “thanks” and “gratitude” explicitly, but they still stir up grateful feelings.)

Prompts

When did you have your last big belly laugh? What triggered it? 
With any luck, the laughter will make a contagious encore.

What’s your favorite way to waste time?
Yes! Get them to feel grateful for the weird things they do when they’re bored.

Where are you excited to travel next year? 
Travel is a universal crowd-pleaser.

What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving and why? 
This one’s kind of a trick. It gets even the most tight-lipped dinner companions to admit being grateful about some aspect of Thanksgiving, even if it’s canned cranberries.

Exercises 

Implement a dinner-long gratitude penalty. Invite everyone to be co-monitors and listen for complaints and negativity throughout the conversation. Negativity is welcome at your table, but the person responsible for it has to offset it by sharing one thing they’re grateful for.

Pass around a gratitude basket filled with blank paper. Everyone writes down what they’re grateful for and one volunteer reads everything aloud. The activity doesn’t force people to speak and squirm in front of a group, and they’re welcome to remain completely anonymous…if they don’t want people to know they’re actually marshmallows inside.

Challenge everyone to take a picture of someone or something they’re grateful for. Let everyone wander around your space for 10-15 minutes. Reunite at the table for show and tell: What did everyone take a picture of and why?

Lead a gratitude scan.

Here’s a script:

According to the Golden Book of World Records: 737,106 words long. Can you imagine? If you’re struggling to put it into perspective, then consider this: The average novel is 80,000 words long.

Your boss’s last quarterly update email doesn’t seem so bad now, right?

I have keys but open no locks, I have space but no room, and you can enter, but you can’t go inside. What am I?

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